


Sequester

by Michelle212



Category: None - Fandom
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-31
Updated: 2019-03-31
Packaged: 2019-12-30 00:04:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18304214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Michelle212/pseuds/Michelle212
Summary: This is a short in response to a twitter story challenge to write a story based on the three words: Sequester, Bellicose, and Mongoose





	Sequester

Joe watched an agent pass by.

"DAMN!" Hollered Hank swinging his fist into the door jam. It hit with a crunch and came away with bloodied split knuckle. "F***!" The large bellicose man's tattooed muscles bulged. His bearded face and shaved head were as red as his sleeveless t-shirt. He spun on the heel of his heavy well worn work boots and stormed across the room at the quiet girl. "This is all your fault. If you just left well enough alone we wouldn't be trapped here in this this dump rat trap in the middle of nowhere."

"Can they really do this? I mean they can't just sequester us here like this against our will. Can they?" whined Ted, a scrawny middle aged guy in a cheap suit. " I mean I get maybe they could maybe keep Hank locked up here." he gulped visibly when Hank's hateful glare turned from the girl to him but went on. "Well, it's just, YOU were actually involved in the animal fighting ring. Right? So like they could make a real case against you. Me, I was just like watching. I didn't even make a bet. Well, not a real one. I only put down a couple bucks because the guys who brought me told me I had to." he pulled a old faded handkerchief out of his pocket to mop his high sweaty forehead. "I mean I know what the prosecutor said when she told me I needed to testify, but now they know the danger, she can't still expect me to. Right?" his pleading gaze got no response. "It's not like anyone was actually getting hurt."

The girl, Joe glanced at him and then calmly went back to watching through a sliver of a view at the edge of the curtains. "It was an animal fighting ring. The animals were being abused and killed. Also,"

Ted interrupted. "But not real animals. It's not like nice animals, like dog fighting or anything. Just mongoose and snakes. Just, you know, bad animals."

"Also, such things often are sources of income to fund other criminal and gang activities. Which this clearly was or they wouldn't have suddenly put us under such strick protection." Joe dropped the curtain as another agent passed by and turned to the kitchen area. "I'm going to make up a sandwich. Anyone else want one?" She never looked directly at Hank, acted relaxed and calm, purposely not challenging him or showing fear of him, but he was in her peripheral vision at all times. She didn't think he'd actually try anything with agents watching and listening but stayed alert and ready just in case. At 17 she was strong and nimble verses his muscled bruiser, but the problem was, in the cramped confines of the little 2 bedroom cabin, her training in avoid, strike, and dodge style may not have the advantage. She shifted her muscles easily under the henley and jeans, kept her soft booted feet balanced to move as needed, and showed only a relaxed face.

Hank growled but stopped glaring and stepped to the half counter that separated the living room from the kitchen area. "Fine. Make me a couple."

"I don't know. Oh geesh. I feel sick. I don't think I can eat. I need to lay down." Ted disappointed both the others by dropping on the couch mumbling to himself instead of leaving for one of the bedrooms.

Hank and Joe slowly ate in silence facing each other across the counter, each turning their situation over and over in their heads, interrupted only by Ted's quiet anxious mumblings. They were just about done when Ted jumped up to pace.

" No. No. Nope. I can't do this. I won't testify. If I refuse to testify then there's no threat; no reason for anyone to want to kill me. Right? Yeh. And I don't care what the Prosecutor said. She can't charge me. She can't. I didn't do anything wrong. You can't lock a man up just for getting dragged along to a place by a couple clients. You just can't. And even if she does try to charge me she can't win. She can't. Any jury would see I had no choice. I got bills to pay, alimony and child support due. You don't just say no if a client wants to have a little fun. You don't. Anyone will see that. Right?"

Joe hoping the agents were listening, spoke carefully and calmly, but stayed behind the counter. "Ted. It's okay. It's going to be alright. Just relax. It'll all be fine. Look we're here safe tonight. Tomorrow we give our depositions. And once the guy who ran the fighting ring sees what we have to say and sees the pictures and evidence, then he'll cave and cut his own deal. Then we're all off the hook. It'll be done and over. The heat will all be on him then."

"No. No. I'm not going to testify. I'm not giving any deposition. If I don't talk, then they have no reason to try and kill me."

"No, Ted, listen to me. That won't work. All you'll do is lose your protection. And even if you could beat the charges, why would the guys running this even trust you not to change your mind again. Come on. Relax. This is the only way. We just get through the next day or so and everything will be fine. We quit now, give up protection, and they'll kill us."

Ted stopped pacing and stormed towards the counter. "No. I'm not listening to you. This is all your fault. Yours! You and your pictures and your calling the cops. WTF business was it of yours anyway? No one was getting hurt. You did this, all of this and for what to save a few vermin." Ted started to shake and cry. "Just to save a few stupid rats and snakes. Now we're all stuck here with no choice but to go up against a gang of criminals because.." he switched to a high mimicking singsong voice "even if we say no, they'll never believe us now."

Hank's fist came down on his plate, smashing it and making the other two jump. "Your right, they'll never believe we'll stay loyal and not talk." Then he smiled and gave a hard bark of a laugh. "Not unless we prove it." Then, without even getting up from his stool, he grabbed up a sharp edged piece of broken plate and stabbed it through Ted's neck.

A thick stream of blood squirted from Ted's neck as he stumbled back and collapsed backwards into to couch. The door crashed open and there were agents everywhere waving guns and shouting. Joe dropped to her knees hands up as Hank was tackled to the floor. Loud heavy voices yelled.

"Clear?"  
"Clear."  
"Clear."  
" Where's the girl?"

"I got her." said an agent, who knelt down to Joe. "Are you alright?" Joe nodded shakily and let the agent help her to her feet. They both looked around at the carnage that had been the living room. Ted was dead half on half off the blood soaked couch a shard of plate still in his neck. Hank was cuffed facedown on the floor surrounded by splinters of glass with an agent knee down on his back. A streak a blood ran along the walls and ceiling dripping to the floor. The door was hanging open at an odd angle half off it's hinges. "Jesus. What a shit show." mumbled the agent. As he lead her carefully through the wreckage toward the door she heard someone ask.

"Damn. What is this going to do to the case?"

A suited woman ran her fingers through her hair. "The case'll be fine. The girl along with her pictures and the evidence collected will be enough to flip him. But how in the hell do we explain this?"

Then Joe was out of the house and no longer sequestered with a bellicose man over the abuse and death of a bunch of mongoose.


End file.
